Trump rejects Mamdani vow to arrest Netanyahu in NYC

JTA – Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he’s still thinking about whether he should arrest Benjamin Netanyahu the next time the Israeli prime minister is in New York City. Not gonna happen, President Donald Trump stepped in on Monday to say. 

“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

Trump’s post came days after Mamdani said that he is in “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department about detaining a foreign leader like Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged actions related to Israel’s war with Hamas. Netanyahu often attends the United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan in September and is planning to do so this year. 

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani reiterated, in an interview with The New York Times, referring to the court’s seat in the Netherlands. 

He also hedged on his earlier pledge, seeming ready to defer to the city’s lawyers. The legal consensus has been that a warrant by a court not recognised by the United States is unenforceable. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he is seeking the dismantlement of the ICC. 

“I’ve also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city,” Mamdani told the Times. The interviewer, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, prompted him to elaborate. “Meaning that whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” Mamdani said. 

Trump jumped to the defence of Netanyahu, who is up for re-election later this year. 

Netanyahu, he said, is busy fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that the “only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”. 

Trump’s comments come after months of speculation over how an attempted arrest of Netanyahu could pit New York City law enforcement against the United States. Mamdani told reporters after a private meeting with the president last year that the two men did not discuss his vow to arrest Netanyahu. Mamdani has said he would also push for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, were he to enter New York City. 

Some Mamdani Democratic allies were also pouring cold water on the prospect of an arrest. 

California Representative Ro Khanna, who is often aligned with Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian politics, said on Fox News l on Sunday that, in his view, Netanyahu “can come to the UN Assembly”. 

“The ICC and ICJ [International Court of Justice] have a legal process. That case will go forward,” Khanna said, adding that he’s focused on cutting military aid and stopping weapons sales to Israel. “But, you know, I’m not for creating a spectacle. The UN is a place that people can come to.” 

Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel under Barack Obama, speculated that Mamdani’s plan could backfire, since an attempt to arrest Netanyahu would “give him a political boost at home” as Netanyahu fights for re-election. “That would be an own goal,” Shapiro wrote on X. 

Republican New York City Council member Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish and has been a staunch Mamdani critic, wrote to Rubio requesting that the State Department issue Mamdani a “stern warning”. She also asked that the department issue an opinion on whether arresting Netanyahu would “violate US law resulting in a prosecution and/or criminal action taken by the federal government against Mayor Mamdani”. 

A New York City mayor has previously booted an international leader from a UN-related event. In 1995, Rudy Giuliani had Yasser Arafat, chairperson of the Palestine Liberation Organization, ejected from a UN concert at Lincoln Center, drawing criticism from then President Bill Clinton’s administration. 

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on Saturday that Netanyahu will be attending the UN General Assembly in September. “And if anyone should be arrested, it is @NYCMayor Zohran Mamdani,” he said.